The economic life of the people probably revolved mainly about hunting and gathering. Animals hunted included birds, prairie dog, chipmunk, bighorn sheep, bison, and above all deer. The large number of projectile points attests to the importance of hunting. Gathering placed an emphasis on plum, acorn, and grass seeds such as Muhlenbergia. Corn also appears to have been grown. Characteristics of preservation have precluded the possibility of determining its importance in the diet of the people. One bone of the genus Canis was found. This may represent coyote or dog. Wormington (1955) found a bone of genus Canis which also could have been from a domestic dog. Since dogs were known in the Southwest from Basketmaker times, this is not an impossibility (Kidder and Guernsey, 1931). Pieces of leather suggest that this was used for clothing. There were also beads attesting to ornamentation. Necklaces and elaborate dress were characteristic of the Fremont people, as revealed by petroglyphs and various discoveries of clothing.
Amusement, or at least recreation, is indicated by the presence of gaming pieces. Considering the care used in making one of these objects they must have been fairly important in the cultural pattern. Great Basin people were often inveterate gamblers (Steward, 1940). Wormington (1955) has recorded a Cheyenne woman’s description of a game played with bone gaming pieces.
FIGURE 74— LOCATION OF PRINCIPAL SITES
AND LOCALITIES REFERRED TO IN THE TEXT.
People of this complex appear to have been rather skilled in stone working. Chipped projectile points are usually executed with care, often achieving slender finely flaked forms. It is interesting to note that stone scrapers were apparently little used by Fremont people. Perhaps hides were prepared in other ways. Baskets were undoubtedly made and were probably important. The awls found can attest either to sewing or basket-making; the long slender awls would have been especially suited for the latter. Tubular beads were made by a process widespread in the West: incising and splitting. Pottery was roughly made and fairly thick, but not more so than some of Wormington’s (average thickness 5 mm.). Pottery of this rougher type is widespread in northern Fremont locales.
Concerning the possible socio-political situation some conjecture can be recorded. First, as Wormington (1955) pointed out, using data from Murdock (1949), “hunting is normally a male activity and it seems probable that agricultural pursuits were left to the women, and the corn plots may have belonged to them. The inheritance of corn plots by women may have served to unite nuclear families into extended families with matrilineal descent and matri-local residence. However, emphasis on hunting and possible warfare would tend to enhance the status of men and descent may have been bilateral or patrilineal.” For Complex A the latter would be especially important if the absence of quantities of pottery indicates less emphasis on agriculture and more on hunting. Certainly, however, the wild foods at both the LoDaisKa Site and in Castle Park show the continued importance of gathering activities usually associated with women.
Culture Complex B
The culture complex represented between roughly 24 and 53 inches below baseline appears to be a manifestation of the Woodland Culture, Orleans Aspect. The authors excavated several single component sites of this manifestation in the area (Irwin and Irwin, n.d.). The following artifacts, occurring in these sites and also in this depth range at LoDaisKa, appear characteristic of the culture: cordmarked pottery, corner-notched projectile points similar to those in [Fig. 75], end scrapers, drills, small ovoid knives, spoke-shaves, awls (splinter or extremely small sliver types), large hafted “knives.” Large projectile types could have been used with a spear-thrower. There are also tubular beads, small stone triangles (possibly gaming pieces), 1 shaft-smoother, handstones and milling slabs. One decayed corn cob was found at 53-57 inches and may belong to the Woodland levels at LoDaisKa. This was a popcorn ([see above]). Dent corn has been found at other Woodland sites in the Morrison area ([Irwin and Irwin, n.d.]). Especially characteristic of this occupation was the pottery, small ovoid knives, and sliver awls.
Figure 75— Artifacts from single component Woodland sites
in the Morrison area. Actual size.